Dreams Continue for Owners of Gotham Entrant Sacrosanct

In May, bloodstock agent Clay Scherer was scouting horses for Jon Hansen's partnership Net Birdie, and noticed a bay New York-bred colt by the promising young New York stallion Honest Mischief   at the Fasig-Tipton Midlantic 2-Year-Olds in Training Sale, where he breezed an eighth of a mile in :10. 

The colt's physical and breeding led Scherer to approach Hansen about a year-end target for him before he even signed the ticket: the lucrative $500,000 Great White Way Division of the New York Stallion Stakes Series in December at Aqueduct Racetrack.

"I went to the Ocala sales in March and April and didn't buy anything," Hansen recalled. "I didn't go to the Timonium sale, but Clay called me and said, 'This is our horse that we need to buy.' Clay knows his stuff, and I just put my faith in him. He was looking for a New York-bred and had the Stallion Series on his radar. He told me, 'Our Super Bowl is in December; there's a $500,000 race then.'"

The colt, bred by Burleson Farms, Mckenzie Bloodstock, and Sequel Thoroughbreds, also attracted the eye of bloodstock agent Kerri Radcliffe, who was scouting horses for Sheila Rosenblum's Lady Sheila Stable. With both groups interested, they partnered on the colt when he hammered for $260,000 and, with Schwing Thoroughbreds also on board, sent him to dual Eclipse Award-winning conditioner Brad Cox to begin his racing career. 

With a trainer and even a stakes race already picked out for the horse, there was just one thing left to tackle before his debut in August at Saratoga Race Course: what would his name be? 

"Sheila wanted to make sure he had a strong name, and Sacrosanct was a name she had reserved, but they wanted to make sure he was a special horse if they were going to give him that name," Hansen explained. "They waited a bit to see if he was deserving of that name, and it ended up being that he was." 

Sacrosanct  dazzled in that August debut, gliding to a 3 1/4-length score under Manny Franco to annex the six-furlong sprint against fellow New York-breds. The race marked the start of a perfect juvenile campaign and was followed by a 12-length romp in the state-bred Bertram F. Bongard Stakes in September at Belmont at the Big A and another stakes triumph when stretched out to one mile for the Sleepy Hollow Stakes in October over the same oval. 

Sacrosanct was a perfect 3-for-3, and Scherer's circled date of Dec. 14 for the seven-furlong Great White Way seemed less and less like a pipe dream. Sacrosanct would enter the starting gate as the odds-on favorite against seven rivals, and while the rallying longshot National Identity  nearly tarnished Sacrosanct's perfect ledger, the first part of a carefully planned fairy tale came true as Sacrosanct held on by a head to land the victory. 

Now as a sophomore, the dream continues for Sacrosanct and his owners as he has emerges on the Road to the Kentucky Derby in the March 1 $300,000 Gotham Stakes (G3), a one-turn mile for sophomores that awards the top five finishers with 50-25-15-10-5 qualifying points, respectively, towards the prestigious grade 1 on the first Saturday in May. 

"The plan was if he goes undefeated as a 2-year-old, he's earned his right to go into open company and go onto the Derby trail as a 3-year-old," Hansen said. "Once he did that, we picked the Withers, but he had a small foot issue come up the week before. We didn't race him there, but now it's cleared up and we're primed and ready for Saturday."

Hansen first began purchasing horses about a decade ago, and started out with his partners—who are all golf enthusiasts—at racetracks like Turf Paradise and Emerald Downs before working his way to the California and New York circuits. 

With 17 partners on Sacrosanct, Net Birdie is now on the path to the ultimate goal they all set out to achieve a decade ago: attending the Kentucky Derby (G1) to see their own horse compete. First things first, Sacrosanct is 3-1 odds on the morning line in the Gotham.

"I'll be honest, I haven't slept all week," Hansen said, with a laugh. 

Regardless of Saturday's result, Sacrosanct has already proven a remarkable purchase, banking more than $500,000 in just four outings thanks to the lucrative purses and bonuses he is eligible for as a New York-sired New York-bred in the Empire State. 

"It's a testament to the New York program, and I'd be shocked if we didn't buy another New York-bred this year to try and replicate what we did last year," Hansen said. "The program is too good to not try to do it again.